Showing posts with label pain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pain. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Decoding an Ancient Therapy
Acupuncture has long baffled medical experts and no wonder: It holds that an invisible life force called qi (pronounced chee) travels up and down the body in 14 meridians. Illness and pain are due to blockages and imbalances in qi. Inserting thin needles into the body at precise points can unblock the meridians, practitioners believe, and treat everything from arthritis and asthma to anxiety, acne and infertility.
As fanciful as that seems, acupuncture does have real effects on the human body, which scientists are documenting using high-tech tools. Neuroimaging studies show that it seems to calm areas of the brain that register pain and activate those involved in rest and recuperation. Doppler ultrasound shows that acupuncture increases blood flow in treated areas. Thermal imaging shows that it can make inflammation subside.
Scientists are also finding parallels between the ancient concepts and modern anatomy. Many of the 365 acupuncture points correspond to nerve bundles or muscle trigger points. Several meridians track major arteries and nerves. "If people have a heart attack, the pain will radiate up across the chest and down the left arm. That's where the heart meridian goes," says Peter Dorsher, a specialist in pain management and rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. "Gallbladder pain will radiate to the right upper shoulder, just where the gallbladder meridian goes."
Many medical experts remain deeply skeptical about acupuncture, of course, and studies of its effectiveness have been mixed. "Something measurable is happening when you stick a needle into a patient—that doesn't impress me at all," says Edzard Ernst, a professor of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter in England and co-author of the book, "Trick or Treatment." Acupuncture "clearly has a very strong placebo effect. Whether it does anything else, the jury is still out."
Even so, the use of acupuncture continues to spread—often alongside conventional medicine. U.S. Navy, Air Force and Army doctors are using acupuncture to treat musculoskeletal problems, pain and stress in stateside hospitals and combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Delegations from Acupuncturists Without Borders are holding communal ear-needling sessions to reduce stress among earthquake victims in Haiti. Major medical centers—from M.D. Anderson in Houston to Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York—use acupuncture to counteract the side effects of chemotherapy.
In a 2007 survey, 3.2 million Americans had undergone acupuncture in the past year—up from 2.1 million in 2001, according to the government's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
The most common uses are for chronic pain conditions like arthritis, lower back pain and headaches, as well as fatigue, anxiety and digestive problems, often when conventional medicine fails. At about $50 per session, it's relatively inexpensive and covered by some insurers.
It is also generally safe. About 10% of patients experience some bleeding at the needle sites, although in very rare cases, fatalities have occurred due to infections or injury to vital organs, mostly due to inexperienced practitioners.
Most states require that acupuncturists be licensed, and the Food and Drug Administration requires that needles be new and sterile.
Diagnoses are complicated. An acupuncturist will examine a patient's tongue and take three different pulses on each wrist, as well as asking questions about digestion, sleep and other habits, before determining which meridians may be blocked and where to place the needles. The 14 meridians are thought to be based on the rivers of China, and the 365 points may represent the days of the year. "Invaders" such as wind, cold, heat, dampness, dryness factor into illness, so can five phases known as fire, earth, metal, water and wood.
"It's not like there's a Merck Manual for acupuncture," says Joseph M. Helms, who has trained some 4,000 physicians in acupuncture at his institute in Berkeley, Calif. "Every case is evaluated on an individual basis, based on the presentation of the patient and the knowledge of the acupuncturist."
Dr. Helms notes that Western doctors also examine a patient's tongue for signs of illness. As for qi, he says, while the word doesn't exist in Western medicine, there are similar concepts. "We'll say, 'A 27-year-old female appears moribund; she doesn't respond to stimuli. Or an 85-year old woman is exhibiting a vacant stare.' We're talking about the same energy and vitality, we're just not making it a unique category that we quantify."
Studies in the early 1980s found that acupuncture works in part by stimulating the release of endorphins, the body's natural feel-good chemicals, much like vigorous exercise does. Now, a growing body of research suggests that it may have several mechanisms of action. Those include stimulating blood flow and tissue repair at the needle sites and sending nerve signals to the brain that regulate the perception of pain and reboot the autonomic nervous system, which governs unconscious functions such as heart beat, respiration and digestion, according to Alejandro Elorriaga, director of the medical acupuncture program at McMaster University in Ontario, which teaches a contemporary version to physicians.
"You can think Western, you can think Eastern. As long as your needle goes to the nerve, you will get some effect," Dr. Elorriaga says.
What's more, an odd phenomenon occurs when acupuncture needles are inserted into the body and rotated: Connective tissue wraps around them like spaghetti around a fork, according to ultrasound studies at the University of Vermont. Helene Langevin, research associate professor of neurology, says this action stretches cells in the connective tissue much like massage and yoga do, and may act like acupuncture meridians to send signals throughout the body. "That's what we're hoping to study next," she says.
Meanwhile, neuroimaging studies at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have shown that acupuncture affects a network of systems in the brain, including decreasing activity in the limbic system, the emotional part of the brain, and activating it in the parts of the brain that typically light up when the brain is at rest.
Other studies at the Martinos Center have shown that patients with carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful compression of nerves in the wrist, have heightened activity in parts of the brain that regulate sensation and fear, but after acupuncture, their brain patterns more closely resemble those of healthy subjects. Brain scans of patients with fibromyalgia show that both acupuncture and sham acupuncture (using real needles on random points in the body) cause the release of endorphins. But real acupuncture also increased the number of receptors for pain-reducing neurotransmitters, bringing patients even more relief.
The fact that many patients get some relief and register some brain changes from fake acupuncture has caused controversy in designing clinical trials. Some critics say that proves that what patients think of as benefit from acupuncture is mainly the placebo effect. Acupuncture proponents counter that placebos that too closely mimic the treatment experience may have a real benefit.
"I don't see any disconnect between how acupuncture works and how a placebo works," says radiologist Vitaly Napadow at the Martinos center. "The body knows how to heal itself. That's what a placebo does, too."
Written by Melinda Beck Wall Street Journal (Monday, March 22 2010) Write Melinda Beck at HealthJournal@wsj.com
As fanciful as that seems, acupuncture does have real effects on the human body, which scientists are documenting using high-tech tools. Neuroimaging studies show that it seems to calm areas of the brain that register pain and activate those involved in rest and recuperation. Doppler ultrasound shows that acupuncture increases blood flow in treated areas. Thermal imaging shows that it can make inflammation subside.
Scientists are also finding parallels between the ancient concepts and modern anatomy. Many of the 365 acupuncture points correspond to nerve bundles or muscle trigger points. Several meridians track major arteries and nerves. "If people have a heart attack, the pain will radiate up across the chest and down the left arm. That's where the heart meridian goes," says Peter Dorsher, a specialist in pain management and rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. "Gallbladder pain will radiate to the right upper shoulder, just where the gallbladder meridian goes."
Many medical experts remain deeply skeptical about acupuncture, of course, and studies of its effectiveness have been mixed. "Something measurable is happening when you stick a needle into a patient—that doesn't impress me at all," says Edzard Ernst, a professor of complementary medicine at the University of Exeter in England and co-author of the book, "Trick or Treatment." Acupuncture "clearly has a very strong placebo effect. Whether it does anything else, the jury is still out."
Even so, the use of acupuncture continues to spread—often alongside conventional medicine. U.S. Navy, Air Force and Army doctors are using acupuncture to treat musculoskeletal problems, pain and stress in stateside hospitals and combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. Delegations from Acupuncturists Without Borders are holding communal ear-needling sessions to reduce stress among earthquake victims in Haiti. Major medical centers—from M.D. Anderson in Houston to Memorial Sloan-Kettering in New York—use acupuncture to counteract the side effects of chemotherapy.
In a 2007 survey, 3.2 million Americans had undergone acupuncture in the past year—up from 2.1 million in 2001, according to the government's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
The most common uses are for chronic pain conditions like arthritis, lower back pain and headaches, as well as fatigue, anxiety and digestive problems, often when conventional medicine fails. At about $50 per session, it's relatively inexpensive and covered by some insurers.
It is also generally safe. About 10% of patients experience some bleeding at the needle sites, although in very rare cases, fatalities have occurred due to infections or injury to vital organs, mostly due to inexperienced practitioners.
Most states require that acupuncturists be licensed, and the Food and Drug Administration requires that needles be new and sterile.
Diagnoses are complicated. An acupuncturist will examine a patient's tongue and take three different pulses on each wrist, as well as asking questions about digestion, sleep and other habits, before determining which meridians may be blocked and where to place the needles. The 14 meridians are thought to be based on the rivers of China, and the 365 points may represent the days of the year. "Invaders" such as wind, cold, heat, dampness, dryness factor into illness, so can five phases known as fire, earth, metal, water and wood.
"It's not like there's a Merck Manual for acupuncture," says Joseph M. Helms, who has trained some 4,000 physicians in acupuncture at his institute in Berkeley, Calif. "Every case is evaluated on an individual basis, based on the presentation of the patient and the knowledge of the acupuncturist."
Dr. Helms notes that Western doctors also examine a patient's tongue for signs of illness. As for qi, he says, while the word doesn't exist in Western medicine, there are similar concepts. "We'll say, 'A 27-year-old female appears moribund; she doesn't respond to stimuli. Or an 85-year old woman is exhibiting a vacant stare.' We're talking about the same energy and vitality, we're just not making it a unique category that we quantify."
Studies in the early 1980s found that acupuncture works in part by stimulating the release of endorphins, the body's natural feel-good chemicals, much like vigorous exercise does. Now, a growing body of research suggests that it may have several mechanisms of action. Those include stimulating blood flow and tissue repair at the needle sites and sending nerve signals to the brain that regulate the perception of pain and reboot the autonomic nervous system, which governs unconscious functions such as heart beat, respiration and digestion, according to Alejandro Elorriaga, director of the medical acupuncture program at McMaster University in Ontario, which teaches a contemporary version to physicians.
"You can think Western, you can think Eastern. As long as your needle goes to the nerve, you will get some effect," Dr. Elorriaga says.
What's more, an odd phenomenon occurs when acupuncture needles are inserted into the body and rotated: Connective tissue wraps around them like spaghetti around a fork, according to ultrasound studies at the University of Vermont. Helene Langevin, research associate professor of neurology, says this action stretches cells in the connective tissue much like massage and yoga do, and may act like acupuncture meridians to send signals throughout the body. "That's what we're hoping to study next," she says.
Meanwhile, neuroimaging studies at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have shown that acupuncture affects a network of systems in the brain, including decreasing activity in the limbic system, the emotional part of the brain, and activating it in the parts of the brain that typically light up when the brain is at rest.
Other studies at the Martinos Center have shown that patients with carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful compression of nerves in the wrist, have heightened activity in parts of the brain that regulate sensation and fear, but after acupuncture, their brain patterns more closely resemble those of healthy subjects. Brain scans of patients with fibromyalgia show that both acupuncture and sham acupuncture (using real needles on random points in the body) cause the release of endorphins. But real acupuncture also increased the number of receptors for pain-reducing neurotransmitters, bringing patients even more relief.
The fact that many patients get some relief and register some brain changes from fake acupuncture has caused controversy in designing clinical trials. Some critics say that proves that what patients think of as benefit from acupuncture is mainly the placebo effect. Acupuncture proponents counter that placebos that too closely mimic the treatment experience may have a real benefit.
"I don't see any disconnect between how acupuncture works and how a placebo works," says radiologist Vitaly Napadow at the Martinos center. "The body knows how to heal itself. That's what a placebo does, too."
Written by Melinda Beck Wall Street Journal (Monday, March 22 2010) Write Melinda Beck at HealthJournal@wsj.com
Friday, April 9, 2010
Herb of the Week: Chanca Piedra
What is Chanca Piedra
Chanca Piedra known in English as stone breaker is an herb from the amazons with 4 different varieties: Pyllanthum Niruri, Phyllanthus Amarus, Phyllanthus Sellowianus and Phyllanthus Urinaria.
P. Niruri is the one known in tropical places such as the amazon while P. Amarus and P. Sellowianus is the one that grows in dry tropical regions. The 4 plants are alike and exhibit similar medicinal activities but some of them have stronger effects on certain conditions.
Some Active Constituents
Some active constituents are lignans, flavonoids, alkaloids, ellagitannins and phenylpropanoids and others.. One of my favorite flavonoids is rutin and quercetin which are also present on this interesting plant.
Traditional Medicinal Uses and Preparation
Traditionally the plant has been used to treat kidney stones, gallstones, malaria, colic, jaundice, parasites, fever and pain.
The whole plant is used and is prepared as a decoction. Tincture is not recommended because the alcohol content destroy all the water soluble constituents rendering the plant ineffective.
Research and Chanca Piedra
Research has found that chanca piedra indeed is good for its traditional uses yet it has also found that it lowers blood cholesterol, triglycerides, lowers blood sugar and blood pressure. It has been found to act as an inhibitor of Aldose Reductase the culprit of macular degeneration and diabetic neuropathy. Its inhibition is not limited to Aldose Reductase but it acts as a reverse transcriptase inhibitor which makes it idoneous for HBV, leukemia, sarcoma and HIV.
Has been proven to slow and prevent cancer cell proliferation by inhibiting mutations and breaks on DNA; it also has shown to protect the cells and the liver against carcinogenic substances.
Has been found to be 7 times more effective than aspirin and acetaminophen as pain reliever.
Chanca Piedra and Modern Use
Chanca Piedra has been widely used in Brazil and you can find it on pharmacies as pills or capsules...it has been used in China, and India also.
The Future and Chanca Piedra
Because chanca piedra is effective by only using water it can not be developed as a drug and giving the circumstances that chanca piedra's medicinal properties relies on synergetic properties rather than on isolated compounds this makes the herb less "marketable, researchable, and profitable" for companies so expect this herb to be in a dark corner of the closet ...
Chanca Piedra known in English as stone breaker is an herb from the amazons with 4 different varieties: Pyllanthum Niruri, Phyllanthus Amarus, Phyllanthus Sellowianus and Phyllanthus Urinaria.
P. Niruri is the one known in tropical places such as the amazon while P. Amarus and P. Sellowianus is the one that grows in dry tropical regions. The 4 plants are alike and exhibit similar medicinal activities but some of them have stronger effects on certain conditions.
Some Active Constituents
Some active constituents are lignans, flavonoids, alkaloids, ellagitannins and phenylpropanoids and others.. One of my favorite flavonoids is rutin and quercetin which are also present on this interesting plant.
Traditional Medicinal Uses and Preparation
Traditionally the plant has been used to treat kidney stones, gallstones, malaria, colic, jaundice, parasites, fever and pain.
The whole plant is used and is prepared as a decoction. Tincture is not recommended because the alcohol content destroy all the water soluble constituents rendering the plant ineffective.
Research and Chanca Piedra
Research has found that chanca piedra indeed is good for its traditional uses yet it has also found that it lowers blood cholesterol, triglycerides, lowers blood sugar and blood pressure. It has been found to act as an inhibitor of Aldose Reductase the culprit of macular degeneration and diabetic neuropathy. Its inhibition is not limited to Aldose Reductase but it acts as a reverse transcriptase inhibitor which makes it idoneous for HBV, leukemia, sarcoma and HIV.
Has been proven to slow and prevent cancer cell proliferation by inhibiting mutations and breaks on DNA; it also has shown to protect the cells and the liver against carcinogenic substances.
Has been found to be 7 times more effective than aspirin and acetaminophen as pain reliever.
Chanca Piedra and Modern Use
Chanca Piedra has been widely used in Brazil and you can find it on pharmacies as pills or capsules...it has been used in China, and India also.
The Future and Chanca Piedra
Because chanca piedra is effective by only using water it can not be developed as a drug and giving the circumstances that chanca piedra's medicinal properties relies on synergetic properties rather than on isolated compounds this makes the herb less "marketable, researchable, and profitable" for companies so expect this herb to be in a dark corner of the closet ...
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Arthritis its Origins and Causes
We all are well familiarized with arthritis... are we? Did you know that arthritis is an umbrella term that includes more than 100 conditions?
The arthritis mostly known is osteoarthritis and gout but there are many others such as lupus, marfan syndrome, charcot's joints, and many other.
Many of these diseases are idiopathic meaning cause of it or what causes it is unknown while others are autoimmune disorders but why it happens is once again unknown.
From the Oriental Medicine perspective all is related with an imbalance in some place or some where in our body.
On my spare time i dedicate time to research on the causes of arthritis and these are my findings: pH imbalance, poor intestinal flora, increased intestinal permeability, adrenal exhaustion, insulin resistance,external pollutants and heavy metals... each one of these have different manifestations an example of pH imbalance is gout, poor intestinal flora could cause infections leading to infectious arthritis, increased permeability of the intestines leads to "food allergies" that exacerbates the already painful joints, chemicals like MSG and articial flavors or colors, ingredients in our soaps, etc could increase the load on the body and lead to a worsening of the arthritic condition...last is heavy metals, within this situation we see the most critic conditions: autoimmune disorders.
I recommend to keep a journal of what you eat and drink and the time, another journal with a record of the urine's pH and later on a detox or cleanse. Then the food that you consider to be the culprit is incorporated and you will watch for exacerbations if it happens you know which food is the one...but bear in mind that it could be caused by something different and not the food...so look carefully.
My suggestion: eat more fruits and vegetables than meat, poultry and seafood; buy a supplement that has probiotics and prebiotic;avoid canned and processed food and do a cleanse at least once a year.
Products:
Dieter's Cleanse, ALJ, Lymph Gland Cleanse-HY and Probiotic Eleven buy them at http://www.mynsp.com/arroyo
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Pain and Acupuncture
Pain is a problem affecting 4 out of 5 Americans; who have reported having at least one episode of pain, usually lower back pain.
The parameters for classifying back pain are the following:
Primary: is from an unknown etiology and it is self limiting, meaning it solves
within a month. For this cases the new parameters state there is no need for
X-rays, MRI or CTS. there are Orthopedic Tests that can rule out any doubt.
A well Health History intake is very important and SOAP notes
Secondary: back pain due to a trauma falls in this category and requires X-Ray, MRI
or CTS to see if there is ligaments, tendon, neuro-muscular,disc herniation
or bone fracture involvement.
Tertiary: the etiology under this category is related with a disease like cancer or
any other ailment that someway or somehow has reached the back like PID
(pelvic inflammatory disease). In this category MRI, X-Ray, CTS are
recommended.
Indistinctly of the classification the pain is something real for the patient and that is why the seek for help. One way they seek for help is by using aspirin or any other NSAID (Non-Steroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs like Ibuprofen) or Paracetamol (acetaminophen). NSAIDs work with COX1 and COX2 while Acetaminophen with COX3. The difference is that NSAIDs are good to inhibit inflammation by reducing or blocking the production of prostaglandins while acetaminophen works with COX3 which inhibits pain right on the central nervous systems. The problem of both NSAID and Acetaminophen is that the former causes blood pressure issues, gastric problems and many other ailments related with smooth muscles (the heart, the uterus are example of smooth muscles) while the latter damages the liver. The doctor could prescribe the patient anti-depressants, or opiods as pain management tool; the drawback is: addiction.
Invasive techniques might have they risk which patients should consider.
Acupuncture offers a non-invasive solution where pain can be reduced significantly. 10 to 16 treatments are needed in order to resolve the pain; once solved the relapse is less... for this i have to mention 2 patients: the first was treated for a pinched nerve on the lumbar area which have her prone in bed, it took only 2 acupuncture treatments and the pain has not showed up in one year. The second patient had neck and headaches so severe that medications did not work for her; 11 treatments were enough to reduce the pain to 95%. The patient feels so great that she is not using medications for the headaches or neck pain.
There are several great techniques in acupuncture that deliver great results. These are Balancing Method (my favorite), Trigger Point Technique and NeuroMuscular (Medical Acupuncture)....all of them are good but the first brings results the same day and last longer...acupuncture in order to exert great results is recommended ASAP while the problem (pain) is in its acute stage... the more time you let it pass the more treatments or more difficult to treat is.
For more information you can contact me at www.omic-ny.net
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Who is The Acupuncture Guy?
Hello Everybody!!!!
My name is Emmanuel Arroyo a licensed acupuncturist (LAc), certified chinese herbologist, acupuncture detoxification specialist (ADS) and Iridologist.
My studies were conducted at New York College of Health Professions (Syosset, Long Island,NY), The Center for Iridology of New York (Lower Manhattan) and Lincoln Recovery Center (Bronx, New York).
With more of 500 patients i can assure you that pain is not an issue for me...
Acupuncture with more than 2 000 years of history is an ancient medicine used and still used for a broad range of ailments from common cold to diabetes or other complex disorders.
I am bringing to New Nork affordable alternative health care....
917-324-1140
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